Rats Flashcards
Color of rats that is most common in research
Albino
Second most common rats found in research
hooded
Like mice, rats are active at night so they are reffered to as
nocturnal
Rats enjoy _____ and building nests
burrowing
A rat will escape from their cage, but
they will always return to it
A good source of enrichment and also helps prevent malocclusions of teeth
Wooden blocks
A rat tail’s 2 functions:
- Thermoregulation
2. Balance
Their tails are as long as __% of their bodies
85
These can be confused with the salivary glands or lymph nodes, but it is where glycogen is stored to provide 10x more energy
Brown fat
2 parts of a rat’s stomach
- glandular
2. aglandular
This doesn’t allow a rat to vomit
limiting ridge
Rats lack a _______ in their abdomen
gallbladder
This structure of the rat’s GI tract is highly developed and has rumen-like functions
cecum
Mammary tumors in rats are usually
benign
Large pigmented horseshoe-shaped lacrimal glands behind the eye that secrete tears with high concentrations of porphyrin
Harderian glands
How many mammary glands do rats have?
6 PAIRS (12 total)
The predominate WBCs in rats
lymphocytes
Male rats have higher ___________ and ___________ counts than females
granulocytes, lymphocytes
Rats have produce highly concentrated urine, so the ___________ are elevated and cages should be cleaned frequently to avoid respiratory illness or renal and liver failure
ammonia
A rat’s diet should contain __-__% protein and _% fat
20-25%, 4%
This type of diet is preferred over seed mixtures
pelleted
Rats tend to become ______ when fed ad lib
obese
These are good to give as snacks to pet rats occasionally
fruit, veggies, or seeds
To recycle Vitamin B, rats perform
coprophagy
Average life span of a rat
2.5-3 yrs
Normal Temp of a rat
99.5-100.6
Normal HR of a rat
250-450 BPM
Normal RR of a rat
70-115 RPMS
Average gestation of a rat
21-23 days
Average litter size of rats
6-12 pups
Housing temperature for rats should be kept at
18-26 CELSIUS
Rats should have _ hrs of light and __ hrs of dark
12:12
Average humidity the environment should be at
30-70%